10 10s in 2010

"We are not called to do great things, but small things with great love."
~Mother Theresa

So I'm taking a different approach on goals for the year this year. Last year I opted for simple, because I more or less flopped on my list from 2008. (Well, ok, I did most of it, but not the scrapbooking.)
SO, this year here's something new:
10 goals in each of 10 areas for 2010. (Posted on Jan 10, because I'm a sucker for numbers like that.)
That's not quite as huge as it sounds, because really each area is a goal, and then the 10 within it are sortof the mini-steps. Furthermore there is some overlapping between goals (ie, some of the mini-steps fall into more than one of the bigger goals, so there's not really quite 100 of them). Just keep reading, hopefully it will make sense.
Please note that there is no significance whatsoever to the order in which these are written. (Is that something like when my dad used to draw a map to a place and then write in big letters in the corner "no scale"?!)


1--Keeping My Home

1. Create (and then stick to) a housekeeping system
2. Try out at least one new recipe each month (this is what keeps the doldrums out of my kitchen)
3. Serve balanced meals (with a protein, a vegetable, and a starch/carb) at least most nights
4. Grind my own wheat flour
5. Make bread all year (2 months down and so far so good!!)
6. Build up my food storage--at least 3m worth of all non-perishable items
7. Learn about gardening in Alaska--what foods grow well, when/how to plant and harvest, etc
8. Have a garden
9. Can/freeze produce in season
10. Participate in the butchering and/or preservation of a moose that Hubby shoots (that's one of his goals for the year!

2--Read Books (ideally including the following specific titles)

1. To Kill A Mockingbird
2. A Christmas Carol
3. something by a local author
4. a biography or memoir (I just read Alan Alda's, of all random people...and it was engrossing!)
5. *Going Rogue by Sarah Palin (mostly for cultural literacy)
6. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Time top 10)
7. Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis et al (about Bertrand Russell) (Time top 10)
8. Beauty by Robin McKinley
9. Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith (Time top 10)
10. Icy Sparks
11. (alternate) Fablehaven

3--Improve Financial Stability

1. Pay off (at least) one account
2. Keep current with tithing (unfortunately some months this has been hard for us, and then catching up on our tight budget is even harder)
3. Live within our means, always considering wants vs needs, and making the modest choice even with the latter.
4. Use coupons and shop sales at the grocery store
5. Use our tax returns and PFD's wisely (for food storage/debt, not playing!)
6. Build up our food storage
7. Build up my year's supply (the non food stuff, like toilet paper and toothpaste and laundry soap) to 3-6months worth
8. Do not buy any new diaper/etc fabric
9. Sew items to sell using the fabric I have
10. Actively market my etsy shops

4--Be More Present with my Family

1. Read more books to my kids (I've been doing better with this through this last fall, and hope to continue it)
2. Acquire a couple of new children's books in order to do #1 without losing my mind ☺
3. Cuddle my kids every day
4. Include the kids in the housekeeping schedule (give them assignments)
5. Stay OFF the internet one day a week (generally Tuesday)
6. Be a good example for the kids by limiting my screen time on other days (haven't settled the specifics of that)
7. Say "just a minute" less often
8. Play with my kids, not just work near them
9. Have a monthly 'date' with each family member
10. Go to bed at the same time as my Hubby (so we can have pillow talk and cuddle time)

5--Create

1. Create (sew or knit) at least 6 things per month, for my family or my shop
2. Introduce a new product (or two or three) in my shop(s) this year.
3. Allow myself the thought-outlet of blogging frequently ☺
4. Finish Wolf's sweater
5. Knit something for myself (I have no idea what yet)
6. Use up existing stash rather than buying new materials
7. Try out at least one new recipe each month
8. Learn how to make shampoo/conditioner (ideally by doing so...it depends on how hard it is to come by ingredients)
9. Make handmade gifts for my family/friends (not necessarily to the exclusion of purchased items)
10. Help my children make things

6--Focus Inward

1. Be more active (I'd like to go walking, though in winter in Alaska with two little ones and no where to walk indoors this is a challenge...)
2. Work on my poor ignored abdominals...crunches or pilates or something
3. Get outside more often
4. Read more fiction (see list above!)
5. Read my scriptures
6. Pray more (an ongoing challenge for me unfortunately)
7. Get the local breastfeeding support group on it's feet. (There isn't one, so I took it upon myself to make one. The social support helps me so much and I believe in the cause)
8. Sing more
9. Take time to be still and quiet
10. Check in on these goals at least quarterly to monitor my progress (I'll post those here on the blog)

7--Focus Outward

1. Do my visiting teaching every month
2. Become a Big Sister with Big Brothers/Big Sisters...it's something I've wanted to do for a long time, I just am not sure how it will go with a newborn...
3. Build up the local breastfeeding support group.
4. Fulfill my church calling (I am the coordinator over the Relief Society meetings formerly referred to as "Home, Family, and Personal Enrichment meetings")
5. "Pay It Forward" whenever I can (in whatever ways I can)
6. Look specifically for opportunities to PIF/send out good karma
7. Shop locally or handmade whenever possible.
8. Feed the local missionaries each month
9. Teach a friend how to do something new (a lady at church has asked about learning to make a babywearing pouch and another has asked about cloth diapers)
10. Teach my kids how to do new things (Wolf has expressed interest in knitting and trying the sewing machine, Bear is learning to put away the silverware from the dishwasher)

8--Learn

1. Read a parenting book
2. Read a marriage/relationship book
3. Read a political book
4. Read a nutrition or health book
5. Read a biography or teachings of a latter day prophet or apostle
6. Read my scriptures
7. Learn new knitting techniques (starting with increases from opposite sides)
8. Learn how to make shampoo and/or conditioner
9. Try out at least one new recipe each month
10. Seek to find/recognize the sacred in all aspects of life, and the connections between truths ("spiritual" and otherwise)

9--Blog

1. Write a series of posts about The Family proclamation
2. Finish the final post in my "motherhood" series
3. Finish the birth-related posts that are sitting in my drafts folder
4. Research and write more posts on specific vaccinations
5. Write reviews of the books I have read but haven't written about yet: Hold On To Your Kids, The Omnivore's Dilemma, Raising Your Spirited Child
6. Write reviews of books I read this year
7. Post more regularly on my cooking blog
8. Post more regularly on my family scrapbook blog (it's private, for keeping extended family updated mostly)
9. Fill in gaps by posting older stuff on the family scrapbook blog too
10. Leave comments on my friends' blogs ☺

10--Celebrate

1. Celebrate the earth cycle holidays (equinoxes, solstices). I have some ideas about what I want to do, but would love to hear ideas.
2. Finally start our long-planned family tradition of having an authentic medieval meal (ie, big meat, candlelight, no utensils) once a year. I can't decide between Michaelmas and Spring Equinox--thoughts?
3. Establish a new family tradition for Jesus' Birthday (April 6--I'll write about it when we get there)
4. Have a family pizza night at least twice a month (we are currently doing about 3x), and invite someone to join us.
5. Have a family or couples game night at least once a month
6. Go to playgroup and mom's support (breastfeeding) group and RS meetings and thus rejuvenate myself often
7. Visit some major sites of my own state (this will be our third summer since moving here, but we've never really traveled IN state!) We're looking at Denali NP and Fairbanks at least.
8. Play music in the home/car, and sing more
9. Get outside often and breathe deeply
10. Do my best to live deeply and suck the marrow out of life